The present disclosure relates generally to a radiation shielding lid for an auxiliary shield assembly of a radioisotope elution system.
Nuclear medicine uses radioactive material for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes by injecting a patient with a dose of the radioactive material, which concentrates in certain organs or biological regions of the patient. Radioactive materials typically used for nuclear medicine include Technetium-99m, Indium-111, and Thallium-201 among others. Some chemical forms of radioactive materials naturally concentrate in a particular tissue, for example, radioiodine (I-131) concentrates in the thyroid. Radioactive materials are often combined with a tagging or organ-seeking agent, which targets the radioactive material for the desired organ or biologic region of the patient. These radioactive materials alone or in combination with a tagging agent are typically referred to as radiopharmaceuticals in the field of nuclear medicine. At relatively low doses of radiation from a radiopharmaceutical, a radiation imaging system (e.g., a gamma camera) may be utilized to provide an image of the organ or biological region in which the radiopharmaceutical localizes. Irregularities in the image are often indicative of a pathology, such as cancer. Higher doses of a radiopharmaceutical may be used to deliver a therapeutic dose of radiation directly to the pathologic tissue, such as cancer cells.
A variety of systems are used to generate, enclose, transport, dispense, and administer radiopharmaceuticals. One such system includes a radiopharmaceutical generator, including an elution column, and an input connector (e.g., an input needle) and an output connector (e.g., an output needle) in fluid communication with the elution column. Typically, a radiopharmacist or technician fluidly connects an eluant vial (e.g., a vial containing saline) to the input connector and fluidly connects an empty elution vial (e.g., a vial having at least a partial internal vacuum) to the output connector. The vacuum in the empty elution vial draws the eluant (e.g., saline) from the eluant vial through the elution column, and into the elution vial. The saline elutes radioisotopes as its flows through the elution column so that radioisotope-containing saline fills the elution vial. The elution vial is typically housed in its own radiation shielding container, sometimes referred to as an elution tool or an elution shield.
To reduce the amount of radiation exposure on the radiopharmacist or technician, the radiopharmaceutical generator is housed within a radiation shield assembly, sometimes referred to as an auxiliary shield, that includes a removable radiation shielding lid to allow the generator to be inserted into and removed from the shield assembly. The radiation shielding lid is disposed over the input connector and output connector of the generator, and includes an eluant opening and an eluate opening that are respectively aligned with the input connector and output connector of the generator and are sized and shaped for respectively receiving the eluant vial and the elution tool so that the respective vials can be fluidly connected to the input and output connectors. Although this type of system generally tends to work well, one problem associated with this type of system is that the input connector and/or output connector of the generator—particularly where the input and output connectors are hollow needles—may be bent, crushed, or broken due to misalignment of the eluant vial and/or the elution vial with the respective input and/or output connectors when making the fluid connection(s). As a result of the broken or deformed needles, the system operates less effectively or become completely useless. If the system contains radiopharmaceuticals, then the damaged connectors can result in monetary loss and/or delays with respect to nuclear medicine procedures. Another result of this misalignment problem can be that the input connector and/or output connector of the generator may undesirably puncture a retaining ring/collar of the respective eluant vial and/or elution vial causing damage to the vial(s).
This Background section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.